Hitherto, a video image recording apparatus, for example, a camcorder (registered), starts recording images (moving pictures) or sound on a recording medium in response to an instruction to start recording input from a user, and finishes recording images or sound on the recording medium in response to an instruction to finish recording input from the user. Upon completing image-capturing processing by the video image recording apparatus, the user is able to edit images or sound by extracting desired zones from the images or sound recorded on the recording medium and splicing the extracted zones by using an editing device (may be the video image recording apparatus if the video image recording apparatus is provided with an editing function).
When editing images captured by a video image recording apparatus, however, the user cannot use the images temporally before the recording start point since they are not recorded on the recording medium. Similarly, the user cannot use the images temporally after the recording end point since they are not recorded on the recording medium.
In particular, when a user who captures images (hereinafter such a user is sometimes referred to as an “image capturer”) and a user who edits the captured images (hereinafter such a user is sometimes referred to as an editor”) are not the same user, the images required by the image capturer and the images required by the editor are, in many cases, not completely the same. There are many cases in which the editor wishes to use (check) the images before and after the images recorded on the recording medium. However, the editor is unable to do so.